Probing supramolecular complexation of cetylpyridinium chloride with crown ethers

Supramolecular complexations of cetylpyridinium chloride with three comparable cavity dimension based crown ethers, namely, dibenzo-18-crown-6, 18-crown-6 and dicyclohexano-18-crown-6 have been explored and adequately compared in acetonitrile with the help of conductivity in a series of temperatures to reveal the stoichiometry of the three host-guest complexes. Programme based mathematical treatment of the conductivity data affords association constants for complexations from which the thermodynamic parameters were derived for better comprehension about the process. The interactions at molecular level have been explained and decisively discussed by means of FT-IR and 1H NMR spectroscopic studies that demonstrate H-bond type interactions as the primarily force of attraction for the investigated supramolecular complexations.